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Sunday, January 27, 2013

My
husband and I went out to dinner one night and had a hearts of palm and white
corn chowder. It was delicious and we still talk about it. Ever since then, I
love to experiment with hearts of palm puree and different creamed soup
variations.

In a large pot, melt
butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté until tender, 3 to 4
minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add hearts
of palm and jalapenos; stir to combine. Add wine and bring to a boil. Cook
until reduced by 1/2, about 3 minutes. Add broth, stir to combine, and bring to
a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables
are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from the heat.
Using a blender, puree the soup. Return to medium heat and add the cream. Stir
in the crabmeat and cook until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt
and pepper, to taste.

Serve in a shallow bowl
and garnish with parsley. Enjoy with garlic bread or cheese toast serve.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

I think some people are turned off by cabbage but my mom always made it growing up so it was normal in our household. My husband said he was
pleasantly surprised by this dish and didn’t even douse it in Frank’s hot sauce
(total compliment!). I even hid mushrooms
in the filling and he didn’t notice. Score!

In a large pot of boiling water, add the cabbage leaves and cook for about 3-4
minutes until soft. Drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the
filling. Lay each cabbage leaf flat and place a little loaf of chicken mixture
in the middle; tuck in ends and roll. Place in a casserole dish, seam side
down. Add 1/2” of water. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes or
until meat is cooked all the way through.

Once rolls are cooked, pour
juices into a small sauce pan over high heat, add 3/4 cup of water; whisk in
gravy mix. Once gravy boils, remove from heat and set aside.

In a large wok, or frying pan, heat oil over med high heat. Add
carrots and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add remaining veggies with Ponzu sauce
and red pepper flakes. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until veggies are tender. Add
shrimp at the end and cook until they turn pink. Remove from heat.

In a pot of boiling water, cook noodles according to directions.
Drain. Toss noodles with vegetable and shrimp stir fry.

Serve in a shallow bowl and top with almonds and extra fresh green
onions. Drizzle with extra Ponzu sauce, if desired.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

I’ve been on
a cabbage kick, preparing it in different ways - cooked and raw. Here’s a
little spin on the traditional top ramen salad where I’ve fancied it up a bit by adding some additional veggies and colors. This is even good the next day, so I like to bring it to work for lunch. The dressing marinates into the cabbage similar to a coleslaw.

Chicken:

2 chicken
breasts

Italian
dressing

Salad:

1 head napa
cabbage, shredded

1 bunch
green onions, chopped

1 large
carrot, peeled into ribbons

1 red bell
pepper, thinly sliced

1 cup
slivered almonds

1 package of
chicken flavored ramen noodles, crumbled

Dressing:

3/4 cup
extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

4 Tbsp apple
cider vinegar

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 package of
chicken ramen seasoning

Marinate
chicken in Italian dressing, overnight preferred or for at least 30 minutes.
Grill chicken over medium high heat, for about 4-6 minutes per side depending
on thickness. Grill until cooked all the way through and no longer pink in the
middle. Let rest before slicing.

In a large
bowl, combine all ingredients for salad; set aside.

In a small
bowl, add ingredients for dressing and whisk together. Drizzle over salad and
toss.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

We are having a chili cook off at work, so I tested out two recipes. This is a white chili using turkey. I think it might stand out more against the traditional red. It is healthy and spicy. My other batch was a Three-Bean Chorizo Chili.

Which one do you like better?

Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

1 small onion, diced

2 garlic cloves

1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced

1 lb ground turkey

1 14.5 oz can of pinto beans

1 14.5 oz can of white beans3/4 cup cooked lentils1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp Cajun seasoning

½ cup chicken broth

¼ cup minced cilantro

Salt, to taste

Juice from one lime

In a large pot over med-high heat, cook onion, garlic and peppers in EVOO for 4 minutes. Add turkey. Cook for 5 minutes, breaking apart meat and mixing together. Turn heat to med-low and mix in remaining ingredients (except salt and lime juice). Cover and cook for 1+ hours, stirring occasionally. Add salt to your liking. Do not boil, otherwise the beans will turn to mush. Mix in lime juice before serving.

We are having a chili cook off at work, so I tested out two recipes. I wanted to do a spin on the traditional chili by adding the chorizo pork and lentils. This batch was spicy and full of flavor. My other batch was a Three-Pepper Turkey Chili.

Which one do you like better?

Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

1 small onion, diced

2 garlic cloves

½ cup diced green bell pepper

10 oz chorizo pork, remove from casing

½ lb ground beef

1 14.5 oz can of red kidney beans

1 14.5 oz can of pinto beans3/4 cup dried lentils

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

½ cup halved cherry tomatoes

¾ cup chicken broth

Salt, to taste

In a large pot over med-high heat, cook onion and garlic in EVOO for 3-4 minutes. Add peppers; sauté for 3 minutes. Add chorizo pork and beef. Cook for 5 minutes, breaking apart meat and mixing together. Turn heat to med-low and mix in remaining ingredients (except salt). Cover and cook for 1+ hours, stirring occasionally. When lentils are tender, taste and add salt to your liking. Do not boil, otherwise the beans will turn to mush.

Note: I cooked mine over the stove top on low for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally, allowing the flavors to mingle. You can also use the crock pot or slow cooker.If you have leftover chili, try these stuffed potatoes.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Over the Christmas holiday while my parents were in town, we made fresh raviolis. They turned the leftover dough into fresh fettuccine for us. We hung the pasta in the laundry room to dry and now are enjoying it a month later. Perfect!

¼ stick of
butter

1 cup half
and half

2 garlic
cloves, pressed or minced

1 ½ cup
grated parmesan cheese

½ cup
chopped frozen spinach

Salt &
pepper, to taste

1 tsp butter

1 tsp extra
virgin olive oil (EVOO)

2 garlic
cloves, pressed or minced

½ raw shrimp,
peeled

Handful of
cherry tomatoes, halved

In a pot
over medium heat, add butter and melt. Add half and half and garlic; cook for 5
minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cheese and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Stir in spinach, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low until ready to use. Do
not boil.

In another
pot, boil water and cook fettuccine according to directions.

In a sauté pan
over med high heat, add butter and EVOO. Add garlic and cook for about 2
minutes. Add shrimp. As soon as one side turns pink, turn. Add cherry tomatoes.
Sauté together until both sides of shrimp are pink. Remove from heat
immediately, to not overcook.

In a sauce
pan over medium heat, melt butter and cook onion for about 3 minutes. Add flour
and mix to coat onions. Cook for an additional 3 minutes. Add cream while
whisking, to prevent lumps; turn heat to low and simmer, whisking, for about
3-4 minutes. Stir in spinach and salt and pepper, to taste.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

This dish is easy to make and bursting with colors and
delicious flavors. It's perfect for a weekday dinner since it's quick to
prepare and cook.

4 thin chicken filets

Salt

Pepper

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

1/2 large red bell pepper, diced

1/2 large yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 large green bell pepper, diced

1/4 onion, diced

1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with basil

1 sprig fresh Rosemary (about 2 tsp)

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped

1/2 cup quartered artichoke hearts

A dash of red pepper flakes

In a large sauté pan over medium high, heat EVOO. Season
each side of chicken filets with salt and pepper. When oil starts to smoke and
ripple, add chicken. Brown each side for 2-3 minutes. Remove chicken from pan
and set aside.

In the same pan, add peppers and onions; sauté for 3-4
minutes. Add remaining ingredients, return chicken to pan and press into
vegetables, then cover and turn heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes, or until
chicken is cooked all the way through.

Friday, January 4, 2013

For my wedding favors, I made all my guests little cookbooks
with a consolidation of recipes from family and friends. One of them included
my dad's New England Clam Chowder recipe, which is delicious. So I took the
main parts of his recipe and added crab with tons of veggies to make it a
Seafood Vegetable Chowder. It was awesome.

In a large pot over medium high heat, cook bacon until
crispy. When the bacon cools, roughly chop; set aside. Remove bacon from pot
and onto a paper towel lined plate; set aside. In the bacon grease, add
potatoes, carrots, onion and celery; sauté for 5 minutes to brown veggies. Add
zucchini, jalapeno, garlic, rosemary and Bay leaf. Sauté for an additional 5
minutes. Mix in butter and flour and coat veggies. Add half and half, corn, clams
and crab meat. Add a dash of red pepper flakes and cooked, chopped bacon. Cover,
turn heat to low and cook until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and
pepper to taste.

Serve with sliced sourdough bread, or in a sourdough bread bowl.
Garnish with extra bacon crumbs.

Do you enjoy a little heat? Try a few dashes of Tabascosauce in your chowder. Yum!